The cost of doing bass business

[Marlowe]

I continue to ask myself how much does it cost to be a tournemant bass angler in CA and where are the anglers finding the funds to fish. I put together some number to demonstrate the cost of doing bass business.

*Assumptions:
For months fished: gas=$3.00, 1 tourney per month = $250
8 months out of the year are fishing months
1 tournemant fished per month

Fishing Months Cost per month
Boat and Tow Vehicle ($50k amortized over 48 months) = $1,040
Gas (125 gallons @ $3.00 per gallon) = $375
Boat/Vehichle Ins ($1,800 annual premium) = $150
Tourney Entry/Costs = $250
Miscellanious & Boat/Vehichle Mainenance = $180

Total Monthly Cost = $1,995

Non-fishing Months Cost per month
Boat and Tow Vehicle ($50k amortized over 48 months) = $1,040
Boat/Vehichle Ins ($1,800 annual premium) = $150

Total Monthly Cost = $1,190

Annual Costs
Fishing Months- 8 = $15,960
Non-fishing Months- 4 = $4,760

Total Annual Cost = $20,720

The costs outlined above don't take into account recreational fishing, purchasing tackle and gear, or offsets to the costs from receiving a check at a tourney. It is interesting that if you figure the cost of gas as a percentage of the total mothly cost it is about 19% of a fishermens monthly cost.

$20k a year is a large chunck of change. How is everyone pulling this off when costs unrelated to fishing are rising around us daily?

[toadhunter]

I hope the hell my wife does not see this post! LOL! It is one expensive "love" we bass anglers have isn't? I save months in advance for all my tournaments. I also have a fishing partner that I travel with to most all team/pro-am and pre-fishing events. We split the cost of everything from gas to hotel bills and that really helps out a lot.

I hope everyone catches a toad this weekend, good luck and be safe out there.

Tom

[sTony]

My answer would be a simple, it's something that I love to and is a very big part of who sTony is as a person. Therefore I find a way to afford it.

sTony

[Rod Martin]

My pickup is used for other things than fishing so you would only use a % of it in your Calc. I think fuel for fishing cost me about $225 per trip, boat & truck. I have one tournament a month I swap out with several friends on use of boats for prefish. sometimes I fish as a non-boater. sometimes I'm to busy to fish. All told I plan on spending about $25,000 a year on fishing related things. I only spend money on fishing after all my other important things are taken care of, My wife says since I dont drink, smoke or chase women, I can spend anything I want on fishing.

[bassmeout]

OK !!!! Now I understand why I'm always broke.... Thanks
Great way to start my weekend.

[toadhunter]

BMO....LMAO!

sTony....Absolutley

[Marlowe]

Bassmeout:
Didn't mean to spoil your weekend. You may have to blow by In N Out burger this weekend in order to save some gas money.

[Fishin' Dave]

My boat is in mothball with the chance of just selling it. As sTony said, I love fishing and it is a part of who I am. With that said, I just can't afford it. I'm going to save my $$ and hopefully hit one circuit this spring. At this point, and with a baby on the way, tournament fishing with out a money sponsor is just not a good idea unless you have a finincial base. Good luck to those who can afford it. You can help buy calling me and buying a house. I'm just a poor Realtor with a baby on the way. Help a guy out

[g-man]

wow, that just made me add up what i spend a year on tourneys. not counting fun fishing, pre-fishing, tackle, food on the water etc. not counting all the above said i spend about $ 1400.00 a year. and thats only 6 tourneys a year that i do. if you add in all the other things it would be thousands of dollars more. out of the five tourneys this year i've only cashed one check for 9th place $150.00, and that was split between me and my partner. we fish the 100% future pro circuit. does this upset me. hell no i'm doing what i love to do. me and my partner are sitting in 5th place overall and theres only one tourney left. so i'm going to the TOC. unless we are complete failures at oroville for the last tourney, and everyone else below us kicks our butts. i bet i spend more money on fishing related things than anything else. its what we love to do. i see myself on the water til the day i die, chasing our little green friends. i'm only 32 so i got along way to go. that means alot more money spent. oh well. fish on!!!!

[NaCl]

Let's see...what about the first five years?

dating for a year: $ 200/month
ring: $2,000
wedding: $5,000
honeymoon: $5,000
Bigger apartment or house: $1,000/month
Maternity costs for 2 kids: $12,000
Additional auto insurance (wife has 2 speeding tickets): $1400/year
Extra food for 3: $15,000
Copays for all those well baby and well woman check-ups (everyone knows men don't go to the doctor): $8,000
Life insurance I didn't need before marriage: $500/year
Extra cost of employee benefits NOT paid for by my employer: $600/month
Hidden side fund - hedge against possible divorce: $300/month
Subscriptions to useless magazines like Good Housekeeping, Parent, Today in Soaps, Better Homes & Gardens, Readers Digest and Ladies Home Journal: $ 25/month
Family and Marriage Counseling: $200/month
Trips to really dumb places like Disneyland, WaterWorld, Six Flags: $150/month
Family van that seats 9 for kiddy carpools: $8,000/year

I figure it costs at least an extra $23,602 per year to be married!

And that's just during the first 5 years. After that, add in orthodontia, soccer trips, broken arms, more Family & Marriage counseling, tutors to get through high school, musical instruments for lessons that never pay off, college tuition & books for two year until they flunk out, cost of keeping the big house so your boomarang kids have a place to stay, MORE college tuition to get the boomerang kids back out of your house! Then, you get to pay for their wedding so they can go make the same mistakes you did!

Wow! Fishing sounds like a bargain to me! I must have made the wrong choices 35 years ago! HAR HAR!

.....NaCl

If any of you tell my wife about this post, I'll hunt you down and plant bananas under the bow panel of your boat where you'll never find them!

[g-man]

now that was funny. thank god i'm not married.

[Fishin' Dave]

I printed it out for the next time you hire me. We'll negoiate the rate

[Colebass]

Ring-$2000..............They won't even look at you unless you spent 5-10K

Wedding- $5000..................Where did you get married and eat, Burger King? I was married 13 years ago and I spent more than that.

Apartment or house- $1000............you can't live in a trailer in Rio Linda for a grand, can you?

I'm printing this up, giving it to wife and showing her that I am not "the cheapest bastard she knows", oh that's right, she doesn't know you! . That's not my point. I will explain that you got married "years" ago to soften the blow.

good post agin dean, made me laugh and think.......

[NaCl]

That's an EXTRA $1,000/month for housing. Personally, I can do quite well with a 1 bedroom, 1 bath house as long as it has a 1 truck, 1 boat garage. Everything else is extra for the wifey...extra bedrooms, formal living room, pool, walk-in closet...all for the wife. My clothes stack up real nice in the corner! LOL!

Oh yeah, I forgot one more expense...after 35 years of marriage, she wanted a serious "rock". Ended up with a custom ring including three big rocks, seven little ones and a set of matching accessory jewelry. Set me back half a bass boat! Ouch!

.....NaCl

[raverfusion]

shes not a free loader...
marriage is the best thing that has ever happend to me..going on three years and loving it. I don't care how much it costs..and its depends on "who" you marry too. my wife suports my fishing and would NEVER want a bigger rock. I got it right the first time. she also enjoys most all the activities I do. Fishing, Diving, paintball, etc... so I have a life partner to do thoses things with...Its the best!

[Colebass]

it's called humor!!

I've been with my my wife for the last 23 years and as Dean said with his for a little longer . if we didn't love them or they didn't support us, we'd have probably been gone.

Congradulations on three years.